Barack Obama has made some fine speeches and is hailed by Democrats as a true national leader but I wonder if I'm the only one offended by has statement that the huge influx of volunteers and donations shows that Americans were ashamed by what happened. I can only speak for me and others of my acquaintance when I say that my donation was sparked not by shame but pity. I want to alleviate the sufferings of others, and I understand that government can only do so much -- and besides, all that government has it has because of us, the American people. We'll pay one way or another, and I'd just as soon have some of my money funneled through organizations I think will do a good job and spend wisely. If anything, I'm embarrassed by all the carping by people who aren't affected and especially the political partisan posturing of people who put party before basic human decency.
He also said Katrina revealed "huge systemic problems" in emergency response systems at all levels of government. I think the best reading of the evidence to date is that it isn't systemic at all, but confined to New Orleans by nature of its geography which provides for the twin whammies of hurricane followed by flooding and to New Orleans and Louisiana by nature of the gross incompetence of their current government officials who really ought to be horsewhipped. But since such pleasures are rightfully denied to us, does this mean that Senator Obama is calling for the recall of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin for their manifest unfitness to hold office? I doubt it, after all, he's fine with his party in Congress being led by the unbearable duo of Pelosi and Reid. But honestly, there is a long road of recovery before us, and given the huge failures of Blanco and Nagin to date, is it likely that they will improve when it comes to spending the billions upon billions of dollars that will be thrown their way during the recovery and reconstruction?
I have a feeling that what the Senator has in mind, along with many others when they talk this way, is to completely federalize disaster planning and relief. But just because the local and state authorities failed in Louisiana doesn't mean we need to overhaul a system that has worked in other times and places. Instead of concentrating on state and local disaster planning and relief, which where the problem is, they want to concentrate on the feds, where the problem wasn't, and ignore the number one source of planning and relief, which is victims and bystanders. In other words, I don't think the best response is to overhaul one of the agencies that worked but ignore the agencies that didn't. Then you will have a huge, system problem, despite all the good intentions in the world.
